Dhaka: Vowing afresh to ‘restore democracy and people’s rights’ and ensure their party chief’s release from jail, BNP on Tuesday took out a colourful rally in the city, marking the 48th Independence Day.

Hundreds of leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies started gathering in front of its Nayapaltan central office and its adjacent areas with small processions since noon, reports the UNB.

The BNP men joined the rally towards Shantinagr from Nayapaltan, led by their central leaders, carrying the national flag, placards, banners, festoons and portraits of party top leaders amid huge presence of law enforcers.

They chanted various slogans seeking their party Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release.

BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir inaugurated the rally around 2pm in front of the party’s central office.

The rally ended at Nayapaltan around one hour later after parading Kakrail and Shantinagar roads, creating traffic tailbacks in Motijheel, Fakirerpool, Bijoynagar, Kakrail, Shantinagr and Malibagh areas.

In a brief speech before taking out the rally, Fakhrul said the country’s people are now deprived of their all rights as the government has snatched those. ‘We’d fought the Liberation War with the spirit of establishing democracy. But the government wants to cling to power establishing one-party rule by destroying that spirit.’ 

He urged his party colleagues to take a vow on the occasion of the Independence Day to be vocal for ‘restoring democracy, people’s all rights, including voting one’, and freeing Khaleda Zia from jail. ‘The country’s people want peace, democracy and their rights to be restored. The government must free our leader (Khaleda) and all other political prisoners from jail,’ Fakhrul told the rally.

He also called upon the government to take steps for holding the next general election under a non-party administration. ‘The Prime Minister must resign and the parliament will have to be dissolved before the polls.’

BNP standing committee members Mirza Ababs and Nazrul Islam Khan and senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi also addressed the rally.

BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, vice-chairmen Abdullah Al Noman, Mohammad Shahjahan, AZM Zahid Hossain and Ahmed Azam Khan, chairperson’s advisers Zainul Abedin Farroque, Abdus Salam, Abul Khair Bhuiyan, Habibur Rahman Habib and Ataur Rahman Daly, joint secretary general Khairul Kabir Khokon and publicity secretary Shaheeduddin Chowdhury Anee, among others, joined the rally.

The traffic came to a halt in Nayapaltan and its adjoining areas for nearly one and a half hours since 1:30pm, causing immense sufferings to commuters.

Several hundred law enforcers were deployed at different points from Nayapaltan to Malibagh crossing to fend off any untoward incident.